1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a device and a method for controlling a mouse pointer and, more particularly, to a device for controlling a mouse pointer without contacts according to a movement of an object.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today, a GUI (Graphic User Interface)-based program has been used in various kinds of electronic devices, such as a laptop Personal Computer (PC), a tablet PC, a navigator, a Personal Multimedia Player (PMP), and a smart phone, as well as a desktop personal computer. Generally, in the various electronic devices operated by GUI-based programs, various kinds of icons are arranged on a screen and a corresponding program is executed by a user controlling a pointer, such as a mouse pointer, and clicking the icon. In order to recognize the user control action, such as the movement of the mouse pointer or the click of the icon, various kinds of user interfaces have been developed. User interface include a mouse, a touch pad, a touch screen, a track ball, a track point, etc.
Various, high-dimensional user interfaces have been employed in electronic devices operated by GUI-based programs. However, in order to control the electronic device through the user interface, one needs to physically contact the user interface, for example by gripping the mouse with a hand. Further, when a separate interface, such as a mouse, is used with the portable electronic device, portability is decreased.
To address such a problem, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2007-0030398 discloses a method for moving a mouse pointer displayed on a display unit included in a mobile communication terminal by a hand movement and a mobile communication terminal.
However, according to the conventional art, as a hand position is extracted using color information and the hand movement is recognized, continuous changes in surrounding lighting creates difficulty extracting hand position by using only color information. Further, in the event that an image photographing unit is mounted on a front surface of an electronic device, such as a mobile communication terminal, a user's face having the similar color as the user's hand is simultaneously photographed together with the hand, making it difficult to detect an accurate boundary between the hand and the face.
In this respect, there has been demanded a method for controlling a mouse pointer in an electronic device, which can accurately recognize fingers in a complicated background including a surrounding lighting and similar face coloration, without the addition or the replacement of additional hardware, thereby achieving the accurate control of the mouse pointer.